IT’S difficult to comprehend what the ‘’village boy”, Dr. Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan, who grew up tapping rubber and fishing at Mosogar community, Ethiope-West Local Government Area of Delta State, is doing in the past six years and 10 months at Government House, Asaba, without seeing things yourself. ‘Seeing is believing,’ says an adage.
This is the dilemma many critics and those who see no reason for his governorship of a complex state like Delta have faced. But if you dare to see, you will find out that a revolution capable of transforming the entire landscape of the state is taking place.
If you visited the state last in 2007 when he took over and you passed through Warri, Ughelli and Asaba, cutting across Delta South, Central and North senatorial districts in 2014, beholding the classy model schools, street lights, newly improved junctions and roads, on-going massive construction works and International Airport, Asaba, designed to close the yawning gap of lack of air transportation in the region, you are likely to have a magical impression.
The commendable projects and the ongoing massive construction works in parts of the state, including the flyovers at Okpanam Summit/Anwai/Nnebisi intersection at Asaba, Effurun roundabout, Effurun are not the revolution either. All are components of the revolution, which full effect may not be grasped by today’s generation.
A Vanguard team toured the state, saw the people and spoke to them on the on-going revolution. The verdict is that there are things to cheer about Uduaghan in the state.
Incidentally, one cannot separate Uduaghan’s achievements as governor from his experiences as a village boy in Mosogar. His administrative template today, which is “Delta beyond oil”, something the nation has also keyed into with the “Nigeria beyond oil” agenda, is an inspiration from the village setting.
His words, “When I took the oath of office in 2007, I asked myself, ‘Do I undertake reform or should I allow business as usual’ I chose reform, I knew the risk, I knew I wanted to see changes and development in the state, I knew things needed to be changed and done differently.”
Business as usual is a scenario in which politicians and their cronies in government, including contractors steal and loot funds at the expense of the people. Anything goes in such a capitalist setting, as what matters is not the interest of the generality, but the few that found themselves in government and corridors of power. According to Uduaghan, ‘’I also knew those used to business as usual were going to resist. I knew they were going to fight, they did fight, most times very dirty.”
An introspective look at his first tenure, which witnessed the annulment of his election in 2010, but later upheld, shows that some persons and groups, indeed, deliberately fired missiles at him to the point of distraction from his goals.
He was, however, more determined to play the game better than anyone else; knowing that his name and everything he stood for would be at stake if he failed. Rather than weaken his resolve, the multiple challenges made him to add two more senses- horse and common to the average five senses of man.
He confessed that ‘’it was a tough call,” and admitted that the battle to make a difference gave birth to the vision, ‘’Delta beyond oil” on which the three-point agenda of peace and security, infrastructure development and human capital development are now anchored.
So far, in the third month of the last full year of his administration in office, he has to a large extent delivered on his three –point agenda and is laying foundation for the future with “Delta beyond oil” agenda as the compass.
For him, even the richest soil, if uncultivated, produces only weeds. “Delta beyond oil” may be misconceived as a mantra to blindfold people, but stripped of officialdom. The initiative is simply to harness the potentials in other sectors of the economy to boost agriculture, boost small and medium scale enterprises and create employment.
He explained, ‘’The concept of Delta beyond oil was to harness, mobilize and let the citizens, statesmen, lawmakers, civil servants, college professors, students, professionals, farmers and artisans to know that oil and gas may be good for now, but the future belongs elsewhere in the powers of the mind to generate wealth and well-being for ourselves and generations to come.
To diversify the economy from oil, certain basic things must be put in place in order to attract investors while not neglecting the fundamental duties of government,” he asserted.
Emerging new world
One area the governor has silently touched the life of an average Deltan in his human capital development. He is encouraging citizens to embrace entrepreneurship skills through the Delta State Micro Credit Programme, DCMP, and through it, an entirely new world of opportunities is emerging in the state. Small-scale and cottage industries are springing up in the rural communities.
Practically dead entrepreneurs have been resurrected from financial doldrums and they are bubbling with enthusiasm; with interest and free credits with which they are driving the growth of the state’s economy.
A total of 10,439 cluster groups of entrepreneurs made up of 111, 321 persons, comprising 67,861 females and 43,451 males have been empowered in their micro and small businesses. Some of the products manufactured by these entrepreneurs have gone global.
Insecticides, air fresheners, toilet wash are being produced by Chujat Nigeria Enterprises, supported by the state government at Issele-Azagba; Dry , crisp and sweet garri by Oganishu Garri group in Onicha Olona; soap at Ofeda Farms, Isheagwu; Akwa-ocha (ethnic clothing) by Otu Omenka Weavers at Ubuluku; cassava snacks by Cassa Snacks; exotic and ceremonial beads by Adanne Beads, Orerokpe; plantain flour by Akanon Plantain Flour, Ughelli; high quality shoes by Creative Hands Group, Warri and other groups.
Meme Native Salt Producers are churning out quality native salt and at Ireyeeriseone, Instant Dry Spices, IDS, high quality assorted dry spices are manufactured and exported to America, London, South Africa and other countries from Ajamimogha, Warri.
Commissioner for Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Antonia Ashiedu, said, “When this programme started, it met with a lot of cynicism from the same ordinary man who the program was meant for and justifiably so. Why were they cynical? They were cynical because programs like this had been talked about in the past, but they never came to reality. So, when we came on board, they didn’t really believe, hence we had to go into the field with missionary zeal to sensitize them.”
She asserted, “We didn’t invent micro-credit, it was a model that had worked elsewhere that we incorporated to suit our own purposes and so, we decided to cluster them, and when we have them in clusters, if you are a plantain farmer, a fish farmer, a trader, seamstress, hair dresser, or whatever, we deal with you in groups.
We don’t create the groups, we allow them to create the groups of not lesser than 10 and not more than 25. In doing that, our aim was to make them to share their successes and their failures. In no time, we saw moribund communities and there were quite a number when we started and they have started picking up life. So, what the Delta State Micro-Credit Programme has done is actually stimulating the economies of our rural communities, addressing the issues of the rural and urban poor, and also the issue of unemployment,” she added.
Her words, “The unemployed are critical to us because those who fall into that bracket are youths and we keep on churning them out from our universities, polytechnics and even from secondary schools. There are a lot of them in this programme who have seen that what is happening in terms of unemployment is global and that the future belongs to the entrepreneur. Many of them have caught up with this zeal of being entrepreneurs and they are doing fantastically well.
“In doing that, they have also helped us in being resource persons for the programme, because I hardly sensitize people anymore now, rather, it is the cluster groups in those communities that we now give the responsibility to sensitize the community for us.”
Ashiedu explained, “It is a programme that has given the ordinary man hope, it is a programme that has made the ordinary man walk with springs in their footsteps, it is a programme that has provided soft loans for our citizenry. It is a programme that has created a platform for the eventual industrialization of Delta State because we are even amazed by the number of products that is being churned out from this programme”.
One of beneficiaries, secretary of Isoko Oil Palm, Isoko, Mr. Success Ogoli, who spoke to Vanguard at Oleh said, “I and other members of a 28-man cluster group are into palm oil production, not just the oil, but also the kernel. We crack, but we don’t mill the kernel oil. I have been in the business since secondary school.”
He disclosed: ‘’for about five years now, we have been getting money and some machines from government. The government has helped us with some machines which have helped to increase our production. The first money that the government gave us was N150,000 which we used to buy palm fruits and after paying back, we were given N450,000 and after paying back that just last year, we were given another N2.7 million.
We used it to buy machines for the group that we use to mash and bring out the palm fruits. The N150, 000 was used to buy palm tree plantation and we would fix a day for harvesting and different members of the group take their own to their respective sites, produce and get their own oil. Each person sells his own oil and pays back the loan,” he said.
Ogoli, who described Governor Uduaghan as a blessing to the down-trodden in the state conducted Vanguard round some of the oil palm plantation factories by his cluster, while the president of his cluster group, Mr. John Ola, who corroborated his claim said the Uduaghan government was God-sent to transform the lives of the poor.
Seventy-year-old Chairman of Ika Palm Oil Millers Association, Mr. Victor Onyeagu, who has a clear understanding of the Delta-beyond-oil vision, said the governor, wants to expand the state’s sources of revenue and leave a legacy of sustainable economic growth based on human resources, rather than on crude oil proceeds.
The governor’s support for palm oil millers in the state has made them to set in motion the machinery to beat Malaysia, which once came to the Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research, NIFOR, in Edo state to collect palm seedlings, but has now gone industrial and oil from Malaysia and Indonesia controls oil price in Nigeria.
The state currently has a unique breed of fish farmers, including graduates of tertiary institutions at Camp 74, off Anwai Road, Asaba, who jettisoned the idea of writing applications for job and barging into offices to raise fish.
Chairman of Camp 74 Fish Farmers Association, Mr. Upright Nwanneka, said, “I am not rich as Bill Gates, but I am able to provide for myself and people around me”. He said he and his partners were facing hard times until the state government through the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation gave them N4.5 million loan.
Another fish farmer in the camp, Mr. James Ogbo, said he took to the vocation on realization that globalization and technology have taken away many jobs, leaving young people unemployed. He said it also dawned on him that government was limited in providing jobs. So he went into fish farming, forming his own firm, Cash Flow-Agro Services.
At the sprawling Ekpan Cluster Fish Farms in Warri and Akwa-Ocha Weavers, Ubulu-Uku, a member of the visiting United Nations Industrial Development Organization, UNIDO, Ms. Calabro Bellamoli, an Italian, was amazed when she visited in June. She asserted, “Your work is fascinating, every piece has history, we have to do something to make the world know of your existence and see what you do.”
The revolution is not on palm oil and fishing farming alone, there is the Delta State Shoemakers Association, heavily supported by the state government.
The vice chairman, Mr. Isaac Odaigbe said with confidence, “We make shoes like the Italians do, in quality and everything.” Commissioner Ashiedu told Vanguard, “The biggest footwear and leather works factory in this West Africa is about to begin operation in Delta State in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, UNIDO. The reason UNIDO is into it is that it also wanted somewhere that has proximity to a large market because we have fantastic shoe makers in our programme and when UNIDO heard about this, they sought out us out,” she said.
At Ireyeesorise Dry Spices Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited, a cottage industry founded by Bishop Mrs. Ireyeesoroseone Woods Akumagba, the manager and secretary of the company, Mr Young Orosegbubemi Barry Woods, said his mother, Bishop Akumagba, a retired Head of Department, Home Economics, Arts and Culture, Delta State Ministry of Education, started the business with 25 kobo, which was her first initial gratuity in 1981.
He said the state government has injected more than N10.2 million into the factory, which produces Instant pepper soup spice, Instant Dry Ogbono, pure hot pepper, crayfish and shrimps, dry bitter leaf (orugbo), dry vegetable (beletietie), palm fruit extract, roots seasoning (ughunneni) and mangrove wood salt (pure vegetable salt).
Mrs. Lilian Chukwuma, an honey and vegetable producer in Agbor, said, “If not for DCMP, we would not have gotten to where we are now.”
A catholic priest at Saint Matthew Catholic Church, Idumuje Unor, Reverend Father Jude Ifeanyichukwu Onyebadi, who runs a sprawling pineapple farm of 83.33 hectares of land, said, “I wish people will just know the goodness of this government through the Delta state micro-credit programme.
I started with about 40,000 stands before Dr. Ashiedu came with her team to see what we are doing. The encouragement her team gave us propelled us to immediately go into getting 100,000 stands at that particular year. That precisely was in 2009 and that challenge pushed us to what you are seeing now.”
He asserted, “There are many Thomases here and there. The doubting Thomases should only come and see. If you doubt what I am saying, all you need to do like Thomas, until you see the hole, until you see the side, then all need to do is come and see and you will declare like Thomas, My Lord, My God, it is true.”
A graduate who now produces soap for a living in Issele Azagba, Mr. Daniel Uwandulu, said the state government “has helped me to be more focused and result-oriented in life.”
Chairman of Ofu Uche Plantain Farmers Association, Abuator community, Mr. Boniface Adibeli said his family could not buy textbooks for the children before the state government intervened, but now, “We can buy textbooks for our children; we don’t trek from Abuator community to Aboh in order to get to school anymore, we now pay for motorcycle to convey them to school. In fact, micro credit loan has expanded our purse and make us more comfortable.”
A fish farmer and secretary, Abonadi Fish Farmers Association in Aboh, Chidi Victor Ugbomah, whose daughter had dropped out from school due to his inability to fund her education said, “Today, with the expansion of business, she has gone back to school to finish her Ordinary National Diploma and she has proceeded for her Higher National Diploma. My wife now has a petty trade in Aboh. Life is far better now than before. On behalf of Abonadi Fish Farmers Association, I say Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, we salute you.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria has given at least two gold medal awards to the state for its micro credit scheme, which is impacting on the people.
After a tour of the state, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku and the national president of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Mallam Mohammed Garba gave thumps-up to the state government for its ingenuity in establishing and managing DCMP. Director General of BRACED Commission, Ambassador Joe Keshi said of the program, “DCMP products are capable of developing into cottage industries that can give people jobs without them leaving the villages. Take this akwa ocha (ethnic clothing), if you can get people to begin to produce it, there can be a market for it.
“All these fantastic products – cloth-starch, Ika and Isoko palm oil, disinfectants and detergents, among others, if we improve on the finishing, these products will be transformed into things that we need to move the country to the next level. I want to commend the Delta state government.”
Nigerian economist, banker, investor, philanthropist and chairman of Heirs Holdings, a pan-African proprietary investment, Mr. Tony Elumelu, asserted, “The truth is that a lot is happening in Delta state that the world is not aware of. What Delta State Micro Credit, DCMP, is doing is mind blowing.
“In fact, I believe that this is what other states should emulate. If we harness these products of DCMP more, Delta state will be a state other states will look up to for years because one, they are eradicating poverty and secondly, boosting the economy and most importantly, creating jobs,” he added.
Former Anambra state governor, Mr. Peter Obi, did not hide his admiration for the programme when he visited. He said the state government was keen on emulating the micro-credit programme of Delta state government.
The next level
Uduaghan’s silent revolution in the state is not just about giving out micro credit to determined entrepreneurs. As he empowers them to grow the economy of the state, he is about putting up infrastructures to attract investors. Knowing that power is vital for development, the state partnered with the federal government on an independent power project, IPP.
This started during the former President Olusegun Obasanjo era with a commitment of about N15.7 billion. It is also building a Delta State Independent Power Plant in Oghara and invested in transformers, distribution and transmission lines to upgrade power distribution in both urban and rural communities in the state.
When the idea of Asaba International Airport came, those who did not understand his vision said it was not a priority venture at the time, but as they later found out, it was just one component of a larger dream, a revolution to make the state the economic hub in the West Africa sub-region.
Creating special economic zones and industrial clusters: (Koko/Ogidigben Free Trade Zone, Warri Industrial Business Park and Asaba Information Communication Technology, ICT Park; embarking on dualization of Warri-Ughelli-Asaba to attract Onitsha traders to import their goods through Warri port; and expanding the Osubi Airport are all part of the broader initiative to take the state to the next level.
Also following sustained drive in tourism and hospitality industry, a $240 million Delta Leisure Resorts, the biggest in West Africa is springing up at Oleri, Udu Local Government Area in partnership with a private investor, Sarner PFM , while a Wildlife Park is to be located at Ogwashi-Uku in Aniocha Local Government Area. The resort when completed will be made up of: waterfalls, African cultural village, children play ground, Cinema/casino halls, sports village, three and five –star hotels and villas. The government is constructing a bridge and access roads to the project site.
Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Barr Richard Mofe-Damijo, said government was currently doing landscaping of the wildlife resort and had already acquired over 5,000 different animals. The animals, he further disclosed, was under quarantine for six months in South Africa and would be brought to the state by next year.
Education
Under Uduaghan, primary and secondary schools have witnessed a new lease of life in the state with the construction/rehabilitation of over 200 primaries and secondary schools . The state is fully implementing a compulsory and free basic education policy.
There is also a policy of giving scholarships to deserving and brightest students. In the last four years, it has provided scholarship to 1,760 students in the following categories: 247 for First Class Aviation and Overseas Postgraduate and 1,513 for students at the local level. The government recently approved scholarship for 792 students in all the categories and lately, inaugurated the Delta Education Marshall (Edu Marshall) which eradicates ‘street culture’ and paves way for ‘learning culture’.
Among the fresh-looking schools in the state are Abuator Primary School, Asaba; Baptist Model Girl’s School, Agbor; Omado Primary School, Issele-Uku; Mary Magdalene Grammar School, Ashaka; Owessei Primary School, Utagbe-Ogbe, Kwale; Government College, Ughelli; Etako Primary School, Okpare; Otovwodo Primary School, Otovwodo; Ugboroke Primary School, Ugboroke; Ogharefe Secondary School, Ogharefe; Okotie-Eboh Grammar School, Sapele; Alder’s Special School, Warri and Ogbe-Ijoh Primary School, Warri.
Others are Emede Grammar School, Emede; St Michael College, Oleh; Anglican Girls Grammar School, Ozoro; Hussey College, Warri; Atuwatse Model Primary School, Warri; Igbudu Model Primary School, Warri; Eke Model Primary School, Utagbe-Ogbe, Kwale; Model Primary School, Abigborodo (Swamp); and Model Primary School, Burutu (Swamp).
At Nana College, Warri, one of the remodeled schools, the principal, Mrs. Fregene Margaret, said, “Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan has boosted the educational sector with his ongoing construction and rehabilitation of schools.
“Before now, we were only imagining what it feels like, but now, we have staff rooms with fans and air conditioners, we have up-to-date laboratory equipment.
Infact, we moved in to this place last week (about three weeks ago). What is happening is marvelous in our eyes, it is very encouraging and I want to tell you that the school as it is now is my own oil company. Both the staff and students are excited on the new deal the state government has offered us. In this kind of environment, you can bet that all the students are happy, we all know what the situation was in where we are coming from. The students now have fans in their classrooms, we never dreamed of that before,” she said.
Head-girl of the school and Senior Secondary School, SSS 3 student, Otaye Jitobor, who wants to be a medical doctor, told Vanguard when we visited, “I feel very privileged and happy to be a beneficiary of such goodness of the government. As it is now, we can learn better, we have well equipped laboratories and comfortable classrooms.” Kalu Amaka and Eghagha Ufuoma, both SSS 3 students, who also want to be medical doctors, corroborated the assertion of their head girl.
Health
The state is running a free maternal health programme. The services, which initially included ante-natal care, deliveries, caesarean sections and essential laboratory tests, have been expanded to include management of ectopic pregnancies, complications of abortions and blood transfusion services.
Commissioner for Health, Dr Joseph Otumara, said, “The goal is to reduce maternal mortality by more than 50 per cent,” adding, “It has been a tremendous source of relief , both medically and financially to Deltans.” Delta state also offers free medical services for all kinds of ailments for children, who are between 0-5 years under it’s Under -Five Medical Care Program.
It has made remarkable progress in the provision of health care facilities in Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara, a reference point in medical tourism.
The hospital with an array of foreign-based medical doctors, pharmacists, nurses, information technology experts and medical laboratory scientists, made a milestone achievement in medicine when it recorded the first successful knee replacement surgery in a public institution in Nigeria. In January, the governor, a medical doctor by training, led other doctors to carry out a successful kidney transplant in Nigeria.
It is remodeling the Asaba Central Hospital, which will be completed in 2014. On completion, it will meet the demand of the ever growing population of Asaba capital. The Warri Central Hospital is not left out, as a 100-bed integrated mother and child care complex; a three-storey building conceived by Uduaghan was recently commissioned to complement the existing free maternal and child health care programme of the state government.
It took over the dying Eku Baptist Hospital in November 2009 and penultimate week when Vanguard visited the hospital; the story is no longer the same. Public Relations Officer, Mr. Sagay Tuoyo, conducted our team round the redesigned and reconstructed hospital buildings with modern aesthetics and facilities. The 160-bed health institution is back to life with the incubators, photo-light machine for jaundice children proudly on display at the Special Baby Care Unit.
Mrs. Young Esther, who delivered hours before we got to the hospital, told Vanguard at the 30-bed Obstetrics and Gynecology ward, “Yes, the free maternity and free under-5 children treatment claim of the state government is true.
Tuoyo said, “Before 2009, this place was in a dilapidated condition in terms of infrastructure, but I can tell you that a new life has entered with the intervention of the state government. You can see we have a brand new accident/emergency ward and with the way things are going, Eku may become the star hospital in Nigeria.”
Transportation
Besides the beautiful prefabricated busterminals with carbon roof dotting Asaba, Warri and Effurun metropolis and junction improvement works, the government is not relenting in its efforts to provide cheap, comfortable and affordable means of transportation for Deltans.
It has bought Marcopolo ,Toyota Hiace, Tata and Innoson buses, as well as tricycles to boost its mass transit programme. The beauty is that people travel in air-conditioned buses at subsidized rates.
Housing
Commissioner for Housing, Chief Paulinus Akpeki, beat his hands on his chest as he talked about the completion of six-storey Delta Towers, Abuja by Governor Uduaghan, saying, “The structure, right in the centre of Abuja, is meant to provide a very wonderful alternative to Sheraton Hotel Towers as well as Transcorp Hilton Hotels.
He also spoke about the completion of a new secretariat complex in Asaba, Governor’s Lodge, and Lagos and completed 11 housing estates in the state, while a workers’ village project is on-going.
He told Vanguard, “Uduaghan has done exceedingly well in transforming the state, I think any governor that is going to take over from him should lace his shoes properly because he has a lot to do to be able to surpass the achievements of Dr. Uduaghan. And that is why I pray every day to God to bring not only the person that will work like Uduaghan, but surpass his records.”
Water
Commissioner for Water Resources, Dr. Chris Oghenechovwen, said the state government has awarded contracts for the construction of 154 hand pumps in communities across the state, while the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, RUWASA, runs 336 schemes, 70 per cent of which are solar in nature.
The first phase of the rehabilitation of the Warri/Effurun Regional Scheme, which covers a total of 190 km network of pipeline, supplying water to Warri South, Uvwie and part of Udu Local Government is practically completed.
Works
Commissioner for Works, Mr. Solomon Funkekeme, said by the strategic development plan of the state government, Asaba, the state capital, has become the fastest developing state capital in the country today. “Contracts have been awarded between 2011 and today for extensive urban renewal of the Asaba capital city at over N15 billion.
The projects covering over 40 roads are targeted at improving traffic flow in the city as well as extending the general road network to more areas of the capital city,” he asserted.
He explained that the ongoing dualisation of the 148.9 km Ughelli-Asaba federal highway, a major trunk road and vital link between the Warri-Port Harcourt (East-West Road) by the state government was to facilitate transportation between the Warri-Port-Harcourt and the Asaba/Onitsha axis. “It will also enhance evacuation of agricultural products along the vast food basin the road traverses.
Power
The government has implemented a total of 391 power supply project since inception in 2007 and progressed on the state’s IPP project with the procurement of two Rolls Royce Trent, 64 MW,A7788 and A7163 gas turbines, 2 Nos 64 MW Brush generators, presently at a warehouse in Oghareki.
Commissioner for Energy, Hon. Charles Emetulu said November, last year, “The initial constraint of bad road and narrow bridges leading to the project site which made us to keep the turbines and generators in a warehouse in Oghareki has now been tackled. The road and bridge have been constructed.”
According to him, “To complement power supply form the national grid, the Ministry has embarked on the installation of a total of 4,227 solar-powered streetlights in various communities across the three senatorial districts of the state from 2007 till date.
Out of this number, 1,317 solar street lights were installed in the state from 2011 to date. About 45 per cent of solar streetlights, which include those covered by maintenance schemes in the Asaba, Oghara and Warri axis of the state, are in good working condition,” he added.
Special projects
The government is carrying out simultaneously the construction of the 24-kilometer Warri-Ode Itsekiri bridges and access roads and Sapele-Abigborodo road after constructing the first road to Umeh in Isoko axis of the state.
It has awarded contracts for the Ogheye riverside community ultra-modern concrete market, construction of a second runway of 4km by 60 m width, taxiways, fire station and modern control tower in Osubi Airport, while construction of the first phase of four new polytechnics at Sapele, Bomadi, Aboh and Abigborodo is on.
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